Metal-cutting machine



Oct. 6, 192 555,992

A. KREBS I E L U IN C INE Filed April 11. 1924 lwvafitar fldolf firefly x v dwmflm ys 2 tionably complicated template and temp UNITED s'ra'rss PATENT orrlos. v

ADOIJ' ms, or nosron, xnssacnusnrr's.

Inna-corms meme. 3

' easants April'll,

. To all'whom it may concem;

Be it known that I, AnoLr Knnss, a citizen of Germany,.and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Stateof Massa- 6 chusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Metal-Cutting Machines, of

which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for automatically moving and controlling the I 10 movements of an operative instrumentality in a predetermined manner with respect to work material, particularly a thermal instrumentality such as a blow-torch moved by a template follower automatically prov pelled along a template by a motor or other source of power. 1

However, machines "using this arrangement are generally designed in such .a 'way that the template follower or other-part of the mechanism is supported by the template,

thus requiring the use of a tem late capable of sustaining the Wei ht of this mechanisln without serlous warping, buckling, or loss of-shape, and requiring the use of an Obie;-

follower. In prior machines, direct moves ment of the follower from one part ofthe template to another generally requires lifting-the follower, stopping the motor drive, uncoupling the mec anism, forcing the movement of the follower with an excessive force, ,or other inconvenient operation consuming" an objectionable amount of time. Another dificulty is encountered in prior as machines when an attempt'is made to suddenly stop ,themovemen't of the follower along the contour ofthe template, it usually beingnecessary' to lift the follower or other wise move it in a manner involvin several 40 manipulations, thus. consumlng tune and adding to the un roductivework. If the as; movement of the ollower is interrupted b opening the circuit of the motor whlcl drives it, a period-of time is consumed before the motor stops, and again a period of time lapses after starting before normal speed isattained.

Objects of the present invention are to overcome the above difiiculties and objections, to provide apparatus for accurately and reliably cutting, welding, or carrying out "other operations along a path corre- Q. sponding to a given pattern or template and r j to arrange the apparatus so that it is adapted to use an extremely simple form of template 1024. Serial No. 705,538.

obtainable material such as cardboard. fiber, wood, or other easily worked material, the arrangement being such that the template. is not required to support any additional weight, to provide for quick movement of the follower from one part of the template to another without complication and without lifting the follower, to rovide for quick starting and stopping of t e propulsion of the template fol ower, to provlde a suitable manual controlfor an automatically propelled template follower, and generally to improve apparatus of the kind referred to. For the purpose of illustrating the rinciples of the invention, a referred em odiment is illustrated in t e accompanying drawing, in which Fig, '1 is a erspective view of a portion of a torch-cutting machine; and v Fig. 2 is an elevation showing a modification of a portion of Fig. 1.

In. the particular form of the invention illustrated, a blow-torch is mounted for universal movement in a horizontal plane. A

template following-shaft, rigidly coupled to relation to the edge of the tem late. The

movement. of the torch is thus directly controlled at the will of the operator, the fol-, lower being pressed into contact with the template to move the torch and being dis placedslightly from the template to stop movement. This arrangement, in addition to its desirable operating and control features, is adapted to use a simpler form of apparatus than prior machines of which I am aware, the template in particular being extremely simple in construction and ada ted to be cut from relatively softmaterialv such as wood, pulp, or other easily workable I -material in comparatively thin sheet form.

Referring to Fig. 1, the blow-torch or other instrumentality 1, arranged to project a cutting blast vertically downward, 1s supportedfrom one end of the carria e 2,-

' mounted on wheels 3, supported on the ori .zontal floor of carriage 4', provided with upwardly protruding-guidesfi for restric't- 105 ing carriage 2 to linear movement with respect to carriage 4 by engaging the margins of wheels 3. Carriage 4 1s provided with wheels 6 supported on horizontal rails 72 having upwardly protruding guides 8 for 11 restricting the 'carriag'eto linear movement readily. constructiblefrom cheap and easily transverse to that of carriage 2. vMotor 9f supported on carriage 2 is provided with the rotor worm meshing with gear 11 to which is coupled the pinion 12 meshing with gear 13 fast to the template follower shaft -journalled on a vertical "axis in the bearing bracket 14 supported from carriage 2. e

- The periphery of t proportioned to have-such a diameter and Downward axial movement of shaft 15 is:

ggevented by abutment of gear 13 on the aring 14 while upward axialmovement is prevented by collar 20 fast to shaft 15 and abutting on hearing 14. The portion 15 of .the shaft below gear 13 and bearing'l l and above the template follower portion 16 is extent as to be readily grasped by the hand or fingers and is provided with a relatively smoot surface to minimize friction 'wit the hand when the shaft rotates.

If desired, the shaft portion 15 may be made 'of smaller diameter than that just described-and may be 'ournalled within the annular sleeve 15' lg. 2), the lower end of which abuts on the template follower portion 16 which in this case is of slig itly larger diameter than shaft 15. 7 With this form of construction the collar 20 is omitted and sleeve 15' depends from andis fast to the bracket 14. Downward movement of y shaft 15 is preven by abutment of gear "13 on bracket ltwhile upward movement 1 of shaft 15 is prevented by abutment of temuse plate follower portion 160111 the sleeve 15'.

It will be noted that the lower end of shaft 15 terminatesv at a point between; the upper and lower surface planes of the temp ate, this arran ement permitting the support of the temp ate directly on a flat tab e without requiring the use of spacing elements beneath the template. However, if desiredi .when the template is made of thin materi such as cardboard, for example, it may be supported with a slight spacing from the top of the table so that the shaft ortion 16 can positively engage the ed 0 the template without being inconvemently close-to the table top. I p

'In operating the machine, the template follower is grasped at the hand-portion l5 and the axis of the shaft is urged in abori- I zontal direction toward template 17, so that reducing gears 10, 11,

the template following portion 16 is pressed into frictional engagement with the tem- Motor 9, acting through'the speed- 12 and 13, causes rota tion of shaft 15 at a predetermined rate independent of the manually applied pressure.

The template follower is thus automatically moved by rolling along the edge of the template.

plate, thereb' propelling. carriage 2' and In order to stop the propulsion of the torch 1 sync ronously in accordance with I template follower 16' and the torch 1, it is 'only necessaryto displace shaft 15 slightly from the edge of the template, thus instantly stopping further travel of carriage 2 and the torchtby'directly applied manual control. To start again it is merely necessary to move shaft '15 slightly to re-establish' contact between the follower and the template.

other, the operator retain hisgrasp on the When changing the position of the fola .lower from one part of the template to an;

shaft and is free to move t e shaft around to the desiredposition without having to raise it or make new adjustments. By supporting shaft 15 so that it is substantially-immovable axially, the follower always engages the template in substantially the same relation,

thus affording accurate and uniform operation of the apparatusn I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, in which a template following element engages a fixed template, the method of operation which comprises rotating the template followin element, and manually pressing its perip ery into contact ,with the template, whereby the follower is guided along the contour of the template.

2. In a machine of the class described having a rotatable shaft for following the contour of a template, the method of operation which comprises manually pressing the shaft against thete'mplate, and rotating the shaft at a predetermined .rate substantially independent-of the manually applied pressure to cause the shaft to follow the contour of the template. v

3. In a machine of the class described, in which a template following shaft engages the edge of a fixed sheet template, the method of operation which comprises rotatingthe shaft, manually pressing the periphery near one end of the shaft into contact with the side of the template, and holding the shaft immovable axially.

4. In a machine of the class described,a thermal cutting tool, means supporting said tool for universal movement in a plane, a tem late following elementsupported from sai means, means for rendering saiolelemeat axially immovable, and means for r0- nae tating said element on an axis normal to said plane. I I

5. In a machine ,of the class described, a

thermalcutting tool disposed to cut in a porting said shaft for rotation on a vertical axis and for rendering said shaft axially immovable, said shaft having a portion for engaging in followin contact with a fixed template, and means or rotating said shaft, thereby to propel said shaft and support in accordance with the contour of the template.

7. In a machine of the class described, a fixed sheet template having an edge normal to the sheet, a tem late follower having a portion near one en for en agin in rolhng contact with the edge 0? Bil-if template, means supporting said follower for univer-. sal movement in a plane and for rendering. said follower substantially immovable in a direction normal to said plane, and means for rotating said follower. 1

8. In a machineof the class described, a

fixed sheet template having an edge"normal to the sheet, a template follower having a portion near one end for en aging in rolling contact with the edge 0 said template,

means supporting said followerfor universal movement in a plane and for rendering said follower substantially immovable in a direction normal to saidplane, the end of said follower engaging in contact with the template terminating at a point between the sides of the template. p 9. In a machine of the class described, a

thermal cuttingtool, means forsupporting said tool foruniversal movement in' a plane, a fixed sheet template having an edge tobe followed, said template being parallel to the 'plane of movement of said tool, a template following element su ported from said means, means for mu ering said element axially immovable and means for-rotating said element on an axis normal to said tem-.

plate.

10.'In a machine of the class described, a

template following shaft, means for sup! porting said shaft for rotation on a vertical axis and for preventing axial movement of said shaft and cutting palate, "said, shaft having) -shaft-is- 'manually urged tow-ard'the edge lower portions said shaft, said shaft having a portion for engaging inrolling-contact with a fixed template, a thermal cutting device rigidly coupled to said supporting means, and means for rotatingstu shaft thereby to propel evice in accordance with the contour-of t e tem late.

11. In a machine of the c ass described, a

vertically disposed template following shaft, means for supporting-said shaft at its upper end, said shaft having a smooth handle portion and a driving portion below said sup- "porting means, said driving portion having a frictional surface for bearing a inst a template, and means for rotating said shaft, thereby to correspondingly move said sup- OI't. P 12. In a machine of the class described, a fixed template, a template followingshaft, means for supporting said shaft with its axis normal to said template and with itsperiphery'tangent to the edge of the template,-said shaft having a handle portion whereby theaxis of the shaft is manually urged toward the edge of the template, and means for rotating said shaft.

- 13. In a machine of the lass described, a

fixed template, a template following. shaft,

means for supporting said shaft, with its axis normal tosaidtemplate and with its periphery tangentto the edge of the temtween. its gends .where f o the template,.: .and means for rotating said shaft.

14. In a;machine ofthe class described, a fixed template, a template following shaft, means for supporting said shaft with its a handle portion: y the axis of the axis normal to said tem late and with its periphery at one end of t e shaft tangent to the edge of thetem late, and means coupled to the other end 0 said shaft for causing rotation thereof, said shaft having a handle portion between'said ends whereby the axis of the shaft is manually urged toward the edge of the tem late. I 15."Ina1"nac ine of the class described, a vertically disposed template following shaft, meansfor supporting said shaft for univvernal movement in a plane and for rotation on an axis normal to said plane, a lower portion of said shaft having'aperiphery for engaging a fixed template, and means coupled to an upper rtion of said shaft for.

reofisaid shaft. havin causin rotation t a ban is portion between said upper. an

' Signed .byme; at Boston,

- as ah a y o 

